


Change of Pace

by Netflix118



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Boarding School, Alternate Universe - High School, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, I will add tags as I go, M/M, Not Canon Compliant
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-04
Updated: 2019-10-04
Packaged: 2020-11-23 21:01:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20896040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Netflix118/pseuds/Netflix118
Summary: Harley had lived alone for a little while now. With his mom at work constantly, his dad far gone, and his sister living with their grandparents, Keener found himself taking care of himself and the house more than the average high schooler. This made it a hell of a lot easier for him to adjust to living in a dorm room, alone, in the middle of New York City. What it didn’t help him with was how to handle his roommate breaking down at three in the morning on the Tuesday before their Bio-Chem 6-week exam.ORHarley got accepted to a school way above his level, but at least his roommate seems cool. Right now.





	Change of Pace

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, hello. This is my first chapter fic, and God knows if I'll update consistently. But I like this idea so lets pray

Harley had lived alone for a little while now. With his mom at work constantly, his dad far gone, and his sister living with their grandparents, Keener found himself taking care of himself and the house more than the average high schooler. This made it a hell of a lot easier for him to adjust to living in a dorm room, alone, in the middle of New York City. What it didn’t help him with was how to handle his roommate breaking down at three in the morning on the Tuesday before their Bio-Chem 6-week exam.  
-  
Two months ago, Harley had applied for a scholarship for a STEM boarding school in Manhattan. He knew he was smart, but he knew that the school was highly selective, which meant that the application was mainly shits and giggles, as well as getting his shitty high school counselor off his back. He never really thought that it would get any further than that.  
And yet, a week later, when he checked his email on the school computer from 2003, there sat an acceptance letter. The font was bold and ran a streak of anxiety through him.  
“We are happy to accept you into the Manhattan Science, Technology, and Engineering Academy for the 2019-2020 school year.”  
His jaw dropped open as he read over the sentence over and over and over until the words started to blur. By then, he forced his eyes to make their way down the page to see the rest of the terms and conditions. There had to be a catch. There was no way this was real.  
But his counselor looked over with pride flaring in her eyes. She excitedly printed out the letter and instantly began highlighting information as she shouted it at him. Harley’s brain was still in shock, so he hardly caught anything.  
“Full scholarship… free transportation… completely paid supplies... Harley, you leave Tuesday.”  
The blonde sat up from his hunched position to look the erratic councilor in her deep brown eyes.  
“Jesus Chri- Tuesday?” He whispered, the anxiety in the pit of his gut suddenly turning into some sort of sick thrill. “How am I gonna get there?’  
“Keener, they included your plane ticket in the email. Did you read this at all?”  
How was he supposed to tell his mom? Could he even get ahold of Abby in time to tell her?  
“They’ll pay for a cab or oo- uhber- Oh! Uber! If you need one, but I don’t actually know if we have any here…”  
What if he wasn’t smart enough? He was about to start going to school with the smartest people in the country, and just because he was valedictorian of his tiny school of 200 graduates didn’t mean that he could really measure up against the smartest people in America.  
“They’re going to be providing you with all the school supplies that you need, including a new laptop and a fully furnished room.”  
Oh god, he’d never really had a roommate before. What if his roommate was a creep? Or what if he listened to loud music into the ungodly hours of the night? What if he was homophobic? What if he thought Harley was an idiot too, and he was stuck being tormented for the entire year?  
“So you just need to pack up your clothes tonight- They even said they’ll be providing all new bedding!- and I’ll pick you up Tuesday afternoon, and we’ll be off to the airport!”  
Today was Friday. That meant he had the Saturday to tell his mom, say goodbye to her, then Sunday to go up to his grandparents, tell them, and deal with however Abby was going to react.  
“What if I don’t want to go?” He suddenly sprouted, looking up at her brown eyes again, his own blue ones filled with worry.  
She took a moment to respond, looking down at him with an expression of confusion. “Well.. You, uh.. You, of course, don’t have to go. But, Keener. If I’m being honest here, which I think I kind of have to be, there's nothing here for you. Kid, Rose Hill doesn’t even have a robotics club. And opportunities like this don’t come often. Hell- opportunities this good almost never come,” She gave him a moment to think, scanning over his face carefully before adding, “There are some really good people there. You’d be happier, Harley…”  
Happier. Well. That was a given. Typically spending your days eating alone behind the gym while avoiding whatever kind of bullying people came up with that day wasn’t the most fun a high schooler could have.  
“You don’t have to come to school on Monday, I’ll mark it as excused. Just take that day to pack and prepare yourself, okay?”  
Harley gave a sharp nod as his eyes trailed back down to her desk.  
“You’ve got this, keener. Trust me.”  
-  
‘You’ve got this,’ was an understatement.  
Leaving Tennessee was difficult, yes. Seeing the tears in his sister’s eyes and the reluctant relief of his mother’s expression was like a stab to the heart, but less than a week later, everything seems like a distant, sore memory. Now, he was looking out the window at the colorful New York scene below his dorm. Compared to Rose Hill, this place was heaven. His dorm was twice the size of his room back home. The window ran from the floor to the ceiling across from the two beds pressed against the wall, each holding four huge, fluffy, deep blue pillows and the most comfortable set of sheets and duvet Harley had ever felt. The desks at the end of each bed were from a whole new world, he was convinced. On his, he had a brand new laptop, courtesy of his school, some sort of light that worked from your phone and knew when you were coming home, and every single book he could possibly want. The closet provided was far too big for the number of things he brought (or even had, though the senior showing him around told him that they’d fix that by the end of the year), and the wall over his bed now had a couple of pictures of him and Abby from before she moved. It was perfect.  
The only thing that threw him off was the complete bareness from the other half of the room.  
When he was accepted, he was told that he would be getting a roommate. This was one of the scariest things about this move to him. And yet there he was, three days at the new school, and still no roommate. Everyone else had been moved in by now, and yet, he was still alone. That was fine with him, though. It just meant that he got to play his classic rock in the morning while he got ready, classical when he was studying, and the weird stuff that Abby would send him at night without judgment. And the majority of the time, he got to hang out in just his underwear, socks, and a blanket. Life was good.  
But it got a little weird after two weeks, when he still didn’t have anyone living next to him. The counselors told him that he would be getting someone soon, but he never actually came.  
Harley began to wonder if he could start putting his stuff in the bare half of the room, or if it would be considered rude to a stranger that didn’t seem to exist. He was late the morning that he decided that the nonexistent stranger wouldn’t mind if he left his pajamas and coat on his bed, which was still perfectly made.  
Unfortunately, that just happened to be the day that he came home after a particularly exhausting English lesson to find a younger brunette boy sitting on the stranger’s bed.  
Something inside of him flared up defensively. That was his roommate’s bed! What right did this stranger have to come in and sit on it!  
“Keener! Good! You’re finally back!”  
The senior that showed him around when he first got here- the R.A. of their floor, he soon learned- suddenly showed up in the doorway behind him, causing his trance of confusion to break. Though this still didn’t make any sense.  
“This would be Peter, by the way. Your new best friend. Just got into school and all that.”  
So this stranger was actually his stranger? This guy was the one who owned the unoccupied space he’d been worrying over for the past two weeks?  
“You guys are gonna get along great. You're both getting diplomas in engineering! You’re like, best friends, already, right?”  
Harley absentmindedly nodded as he looked over this newcomer, who suddenly seemed to be invading his space, despite staying far onto his own side. Well, there goes his obscure music taste throughout the day.  
“He’s not gonna be starting classes for a few days, just to get adjusted to the campus and stuff. Maybe you can show him around? Show him that tea place you like!”  
There goes walking around in stupid pajamas, making idiotic videos to send back to Abby. Hanging out alone and focusing on everything and nothing at all, all while shirtless and probably pantless was out the door.  
“God, I’m talking about him like he’s not here. Anyway, Peter, you’ll love Harley. He’s a real southern bell.”  
For some reason, hearing the words fall out of the senior's mouth felt like the deepest betrayal. There goes being alone.  
“Anyway, I’ve uh… I’ve gotta go..” he said, sensing the sudden awkward tension in the room. “You two hang out? And Keener, you’ve got my number if you need anything.”  
Then they were alone. Shit.  
The stranger- Peter, apparently- shifted carefully on his bed, keeping his eyes averted from the doorway that Harley was standing in. It was like he already wanted nothing to do with him. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.  
Harley walked all the way into the room and tossed his bag down onto his bed before throwing off his blazer. The day was done, and a new bother in his room wouldn’t stop him from going about his routine.  
He found the maroon and tan sweatshirt that was buried in his blankets within a couple of seconds and shoved it over his head, letting out a sigh at the familiar comfort. Okay. Class was done, that meant he had the rest of the night to do whatever he wanted. At one point, he heard about a movie night down in the English hall, but he decided that he would rather be in bed with his choice of movie than surrounded by other students that he could hardly tolerate on a good day. He should probably get dinner at some point, but the dining hall was having meatloaf, which he would more than happily pass on. He threw a glance out the window, which had slowly begun to gain little drawings and messages from friends and acquaintances that stopped by his room, and saw that it was still sunny out, and the courtyard looked pretty inviting with all of the red and yellow leaves falling around. Going out it is, then. With his decision made, he pulled his hoodie tighter around him and grabbed a couple of dollars that he stashed in his desk (he should probably change that and start using a wallet now that someone else lived with him) before throwing one more glance at the newcomer. He hadn’t made a move to stand from his bed or start unpacking or decorating, but he had pulled out his phone at one point.  
Whatever. He would be fine. He was probably texting someone he already knew around the school or something. So Harley shoved his own phone and keys into the pocket of his jeans and made his way out the door.  
The door slammed behind him as he let out a breath of relief. Okay. He was alone again. Maybe things wouldn’t be too abnormal if this was how weird and shy this kid was.  
He took a few steps down the hall, willing the gnawing guilt in his stomach to just leave him alone, but it was persistent.  
Before the blonde knew what he was doing, the dorm room door was shoved open again and he was leaning inside, clearing his throat to get the strangers- Peter’s- attention.  
“So, uh… I’m gonna go get dinner at this shop down the street. I donno if you’ve eaten or anything, but uh, if you wanna come, I’ll pay,” he said, his voice a little lower and less confident than he would have liked. He was expecting Peter to stay silent, maybe just ignore him completely.  
What he didn’t expect was to be met with chocolate-brown eyes that lit up at the invitation and an enthusiastic nod that would put an excited puppy to shame.  
Suddenly the feeling of guilt in his stomach shifted to something much more interested. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, kudos and comments are GREATLY appreciated!! Also, feel free to comment any suggestions or prompts, or message me on my tumblr :) I love hearing from y'all :)  
Tumblr: emptycanoflizards


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